5 eLearning Trends for 2016

ELearning and micro-Learning are popular ways to train and educate your new and existing employees, not to mention your sales force and channel. So we compiled the top five trends for eLearning in 2016. These trends hold true for all types of eLearning content - compliance training, product training, and sales training, just to name a few.

Going Global

More and more companies are doing business overseas, have branches in other countries, or are going to market through global distribution channels. At BIW we’ve seen a 350% increase in global eLearning. As the world becomes smaller, it is important that your eLearning can be accessed anywhere and in any language. Having one eLearning course version that contains all your languages can cut costs significantly.

Support for All Devices

People switch back and forth between as many as four digital devices each day; and 83% say a quality cross-platform experience is important. With untethered workers and “phone first” millennials in your learning audience, your custom learning should follow them to be available at the “point of need.” In 2016, build your training to be accessed anytime, anywhere and on any device.

Gamification

With hundreds of thousands of mobile applications and games available, our society has embraced competition at every level.  Whether it’s trying to be at the top of the worldwide leaderboard or simply having bragging rights over your friends, turning eLearning into a game increases engagement. Because gamification helps increase learning effectiveness and changes behavior, it is an easy decision to gamify your eLearning in 2016.

Think Responsive

With so many different browsers out there, you need your eLearning to play nice in the sandbox with all of them. This includes testing your program on each of the main browsers and mobile operating systems. Although it is time consuming on the front-end, it will pay huge dividends throughout this year and beyond.

Speed it up

The Millennial Generation is now the biggest generation in the work force; and like everyone else, most are impatient. To get and keep the learner’s attention, download speed is critical. Online designers know they have 5-10 seconds to grab someone’s attention or they’ll click away.  Don’t chew up those 5-10 seconds with slow download speeds. If today’s learners are kept waiting, they will move on to the next priority.

Understanding these five trends will greatly increase the chances that your eLearning and online training will be a success and make a difference for your employees. For more information on how BI WORLDWIDE can help you get your training up to par for 2016, visit our elearning page.